Garcia v. Barclays Capital, Inc.

• Decision Date: 15 November 2017
• Docket Number: 13–CV–5308 (VSB)
• Citation: 281 F.Supp.3d 365
• Parties: Maria GARCIA, Plaintiff, v. BARCLAYS CAPITAL, INC., et al., Defendants
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

281 F.Supp.3d 365

Maria GARCIA, Plaintiff,

v.BARCLAYS CAPITAL, INC., et al., Defendants

13–CV–5308 (VSB)

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

Signed November 15, 2017

Anne L. Clark, Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, P.C., New York, New York, Counsel for Plaintiff

Patrick W. Shea, Emily R. Pidot, Paul Hastings LLP, New York, New York, Counsel for Defendants

MEMORANDUM & OPINION

VERNON S. BRODERICK, United States District Judge:

Plaintiff Maria Garcia ("Plaintiff" or "Garcia") brings this employment discrimination action against Defendants Barclays Capital, Inc. and Barclays Bank PLC (together, "Barclays" or "Defendants"). Plaintiff asserts claims of unlawful employment discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. ("Title VII"), the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law § 290e et seq. ("NYSHRL"), the New York City Human Rights Law, N.Y. City Admin. Code §§ 8–101 et seq. ("NYCHRL"), and Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (" Section 1981"). Plaintiff also asserts claims under the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d) ("EPA") and the New York State Labor Law § 194 ("NYLL") related to Defendants' alleged failure to pay their male and female employees equal wages. Before me is Defendants' motion for summary judgment on all Plaintiff's claims. Because there is no genuine dispute of material fact relating to Plaintiff's employment discrimination claims and because Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate that her race or sex was a motivating factor in the adverse employment acts, Defendants' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED with respect to Plaintiff's causes of action under Title VII, NYSHRL, and Section 1981. Because there is no genuine dispute of material fact relating to Plaintiff's unequal pay claims and because Barclays has proven its affirmative defense that it relied on factors other than sex in determining compensation, Defendants' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED with respect to Plaintiff's causes of action under the EPA and NYLL. In light of the fact that Plaintiff's federal claims are dismissed, I decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction with respect to Plaintiff's cause of action under the NYCHRL, and thus those claims are dismissed without prejudice to them being asserted in state court.

I. Background

A. Barclays Hires Garcia

Garcia is a Latina woman, and was born and raised on Long Island, New York to a Dominican father and an El Salvadoran mother. (Defs.' 56.1 ¶¶ 40, 60.)¹ In August 1997, Garcia began her employment at Lehman Brothers ("Lehman"), an international investment bank, as a sales assistant on Lehman's Emerging Markets ("EM") Sales desk. (Id. ¶¶ 41, 43.) Between 1997 and 2006, Lehman promoted Garcia three times: to Junior Salesperson in 1999; to Vice President in 2001; and to Director in 2006. (Id. ¶¶ 44, 45, 47.) During her final six years at Lehman, Garcia reported to Robert Koch, a managing director and the head of New York EM Sales. (Id. ¶ 50.)

Lehman's holding company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008, and Barclays, an international investment bank, acquired portions of Lehman's business, including Lehman's EM Sales group. (See id. ¶ 42; The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/business/15lehman.html (last visited Oct. 2, 2017).) In connection with Barclays's acquisition of Lehman's EM Sales group, Andrew Gold, a managing director at Barclays and the head of Barclays' New York EM Sales, interviewed Garcia for a position at Barclays and offered Garcia a position in EM Sales on the Nobramex² team at Barclays. (Defs.' 56.1 ¶¶ 1, 54.) In addition to Garcia, Barclays hired Koch to work as a salesperson on the U.S. EM Sales team; Koch reported to Gold from the time he joined Barclays in 2008 until Gold's departure in 2014. (Id. ¶ 55; Koch Decl. ¶ 1.)³ In August or September 2009, Koch became the head of the U.S. EM Sales team, and Gold remained his direct manager. (Defs.' 56.1 ¶ 55.)

In March 2009, Gold promoted Garcia to head of the Nobramex team, on a probationary basis. (Id. ¶¶ 4, 80.) In May 2009, Gold made the promotion permanent. (Id. ¶ 87.) In the summer of 2009, Gold nominated Garcia for Barclays' Woman of the Year Award; in support of his nomination of Garcia, Gold wrote that Garcia was "an outstanding leader and she continues to maintain an unwavering focus on her clients and her colleagues." (Id. ¶ 6.) In response to being nominated, Garcia wrote to Gold, thanking him "so very much." (Id. ) Garcia was selected as one of fourteen finalists out of 411 nominees for the Woman of the Year Award. (Id. ¶ 7.)

Gold rated Garcia's performance "A (mid)" in his 2009 mid-year evaluation of Garcia. (Id. ¶ 90.) In addition, Gold wrote that Garcia "has done extremely well taking over the Nobramex team .... She stepped up and has proven that she is an efficient manager as well as producer. She is looked up to by others on the desk and is viewed as extremely reliable .... I believe Maria is one of the most important resources on the desk ...." (Id. ) In reviewing Garcia's work to set her compensation for 2009, Gold determined that Garcia had a good year in 2009, and that she was "off to a good start." (Id. ¶ 97.) In his 2009 year-end review, Gold rated Garcia's performance "A (high)," the highest possible rating. (Id. ¶¶ 97, 163.)

B. Gold Reassigns Garcia's U.S. Accounts

During her tenure at Lehman, the majority of Garcia's "accounts were with US-based clients." (Garcia Decl. ¶ 4.)⁴ When Garcia joined Barclays she continued to cover certain U.S. accounts that she had covered while at Lehman, but she did not continue to cover all of the accounts that she had when she was at Lehman. (Id. ¶¶ 6, 8, 9, 14.) For example, Garcia covered JP Morgan at Lehman, but never covered JP Morgan while at Barclays. (Id. ¶ 8.) In January 2010, Gold reassigned the hedge fund accounts Garcia had been covering to salespeople in U.S. EM Sales who worked under Koch. (Id. ; Defs.' 56.1 ¶ 99; Koch Decl. ¶¶ 2, 3.) Gold stated that the decision to reassign the U.S. accounts was based on the preference for keeping U.S. production and Nobramex production separate from one another. (Defs.' 56.1 ¶ 99.) Gold returned certain of these U.S. accounts to Garcia in or around January 2011, including Discovery, Fortress, QVT, and Traxis Partners. (Defs.' 56.1 ¶¶ 18, 25; Garcia Decl. ¶ 32.)

C. Gold Nominates Garcia for Promotion to Managing Director

In March 2010, Gold nominated Garcia for promotion to managing director. (Defs.' 56.1 ¶ 108.) Gold wrote that he nominated Garcia in 2010 because "he thought she was off to a great start in running Nobramex, she had made a lot of progress, and she deserved the nomination." (Id. ) Garcia was the only candidate Gold nominated for promotion to managing director in 2010, (id. ¶ 13), and was the only non-white nominee from EM Sales that year, (id. ¶ 109). Garcia's candidacy advanced to the final round of the process; however, Garcia was not selected for promotion to managing director. (Id. ¶ 111.)

The Global Partnership Committee (the "GPC") was a group of senior Barclays managers who reviewed candidates for managing director, and at the time was composed of two women and only one non-white member, a non-Latino man. (Id. ¶ 119.) The GPC decided not to promote Garcia in 2010 because it concluded "she did not have enough production exclusively under her name" and she had "not yet had time to develop a revenue track record of performance against budget and she has not been able to prove her people management capabilities." (Shea Aff. Ex. 26; see Defs.' 56.1 ¶¶ 111, 119.)⁵ When Gold told Garcia the GPC did not select her for promotion, he told her that he did not want a "pity party" from her, and no more "Mama Maria." (Defs.' 56.1 ¶ 115.)

Gold again nominated Garcia for promotion to managing director in 2011; however, Garcia removed herself from consideration. (Id. ¶ 26.) Garcia spoke with a Barclays human resources representative and they agreed that Garcia should focus on getting her compensation higher in 2011 and then turn her attention to a higher corporate title. (Id. )

In 2012, Gold placed Garcia on his preliminary "long list" of candidates for managing director, but he ultimately did not advance her for promotion "because she had not improved her production or performance, and he thought it was unlikely the committee would promote her." (Id. ¶ 31.)

D. Barclays Undergoes a Series of Reductions in Force

In January 2011, Barclays underwent a reduction in force ("RIF"). (Id. ¶¶ 22, 165.) In connection with the 2011 RIF, Gold was required to select three roles in EM Sales for redundancy and layoff. (Id. ¶ 22.) Gold consulted Pamela Sinclair in Barclays' human resources department regarding whether to include Garcia in the 2011 RIF. (Gold Decl. ¶ 2.)⁶ Sinclair worked in Barclays' human resources department from 1996 until 2013, and between 2005 and 2013 she was a Director in that department. (Sinclair Decl. ¶ 1.)⁷ Sinclair supported the Markets division which included EM Sales where Gold and Garcia worked. (Id. ¶ 2.) Sinclair urged Gold to include Garcia in the 2011 RIF, (Defs.' 56.1 ¶ 23), because in her opinion Garcia was not performing well, did not demonstrate potential for long-term success, and her belief that Garcia's role was not needed, (Sinclair Decl. ¶ 3).⁸ Gold did not adopt Sinclair's recommendation to select Garcia's role for redundancy and did not include Garcia in the 2011 RIF. (Id. ¶ 3; Defs.' 56.1 ¶ 24.) Instead Gold presented Garcia with three options: (1) volunteer for the RIF and take a severance package; (2) transfer to the U.S. EM Sales team or look for other opportunities within Barclays; or (3) stay in her current role and improve her production and performance. (Defs.' 56.1 ¶ 24.) After considering these options, Garcia decided to remain in her role as head of the Nobramex team in EM Sales. (Id. ¶ 25.) In addition, Gold assigned Garcia some U.S....